Romance without Tears (closed)

[Maka]

“Okay. If you think this is actually going to help.”

As responses to proposals go, it hadn’t been exactly swooningly romantic. But then Naomi hadn’t hired a guitarist to serenade him, showered him with red roses, or got down on one knee. She had bought him dinner, but it had been takeaway Chinese and bottled beer, consumed sitting on cinderblocks in her garage in front of the vintage Corvette she was disassembling and lovingly putting back together.

But that was okay, since they had no intention of actually getting married.



Nick Davies was in his late twenties –a tall, lean man with the broad shoulders and taut muscles of a natural athlete. Years of labour and play under the sun had given his skin a healthy tan and hardened those muscles into something as strong and unyielding as cable. There was a natural authority to his deep voice. Even when he spoke at nothing more than a murmur, he could make himself heard and obeyed. His face had a masculine hardness that matched his voice, but there was a devilish spark to his clear blue eyes that promised something beyond just that –humour, loyalty, and above all passion. Women often shivered and flushed after just a glance from those Celtic eyes. It was never hard to tell when he’d arrived at a party –the room tended to go quiet, just for a moment.

As a matter of fact, he’d met Naomi Highford at a party. The girl she’d been with at the time, a blogger of some description, had brought her along, but it was quickly apparent that it was neither Naomi nor Nick’s kind of scene –filled with vapid, tedious new media types, the self-anointed future of journalism. The two of them had started talking, welded together by boredom and distaste for the people surrounding them, and ended up taking to the roof of the house with as much alcohol as they could plunder, talking and swapping stories until dawn.


Naomi’s girlfriend had left in a huff, Nick later found out –unable to locate Naomi and convinced that she’d gone off with some other girl.


Naomi was stunningly attractive, a fact that Nick had noted in their first encounter but locked away somewhere where it hopefully wouldn’t become troublesome.


Naomi hadn’t mentioned her parents much, but as the bond between them deepened, bits and pieces came out here and there. They didn’t match the picture Nick had vaguely formed in his head –youngish, affable, liberal, and city-based types, entirely nonchalant about their tomboy daughter’s sexuality.

But as it turned out the Highfords were conservative, rural, church-goers… and as a matter of fact, they had no idea that they’d raised a lesbian. Nick was surprised. Naomi had always been fearless, not the type to hide who she was or take shit from anyone. But it was different with family, as he himself should have known all too well.

What’s more, he correctly perceived that Naomi letting him know about it, and about her family in general, was a compliment, a gesture of trust that he found moving. Nick had responded by letting her in a little as well –sharing things with her that he rarely did even with the girls who shared his bed.

Naomi sometimes represented a mild problem for them, at least with the ones who stuck around.

“Obviously, it’s not that I think you’re going to sleep with her,” one (Laura?) had explained. “But you spend so much time together. You might as well.”


Naomi had proposed after a particularly heavy session with her parents –a grandchild-craving mother, and a father who had always had his suspicions, starting in tenth grade with Naomi’s interest in cars and lack of interest in boys. He didn’t phrase it that way. He wondered out loud. Naomi had been working in the city for years now. Didn’t they have men up there? Or was it all queers and chinless man-boys prancing around in suits bought with Daddy’s money?

Which made Naomi wonder, just in the abstract at first, what kind of boyfriend would make her father happy. He’d have to be tough and ready to stand up for himself, but courteous; outdoorsy but with a brain; the kind of guy you could see building a house, fixing a car, taking care of things. This line of thought had led her to Nick.

“Where is this going?” Nick had asked, cocking his head to one side.

Naomi had told him.

“Okay. If you think this is actually going to help.”


And so Nick found himself pulled up in Naomi’s snow-covered driveway, waiting to pick her up and drive down with her several hundred miles to her family home, to spend a week being introduced to all as Naomi’s fiancé.

He still had to wonder: was this really going to help?

 

[slut_in_white]

Usually, people picked the same word to describe Naomi Highford: spitfire.

The five-foot-nothing little blonde, with her hair cut into short, messy, platinum blonde pixie, usually with shocks of bright colour peering out underneath. She had a round face, with big eyes, a button nose and a small, pouting mouth, which all made her look faintly like a porcelain doll. She was unquestionably feminine in her appearance, even when she was dressed in coveralls and smeared with motor oil.

Once, and only once, had a member of the local garage questioned her veracity when talking about cars based on her gender. About half of them had found the resulting bloody nose hilarious, and the other half - the ones who had been secretly questioning her themselves - were faintly afraid of her.

Which was why it always struck people as odd if they discovered that her family was a hyperconservative rural family - the sort where she was the 8th of 12 children, and almost all of her elder siblings were already married and were well on their way to producing a dozen children of their own. She would never strike anyone as belonging to a family like that, especially one where her father kept dropping unsubtle hints that the felt she was getting a little old to be such a "tomboy" and that everyone was wondering when she'd finally grow up, get married, start wearing pretty dresses and learn that her place was in the home, pumping out babies for her husband.

Even Naomi was somewhat baffled that she'd managed to escape the heavy weight of their assumptions and form her own life. It probably helped that she was a lesbian. Not that her parents knew, and not that she ever intended to tell them.

She'd only once admitted to someone that she hadn't told her parents about her sexuality and had it go badly. It was, amusingly, that same bloggess who had abandoned Naomi the night she met Nick - she was a queer-issues blogger, and had implied that Naomi was doing some disservice to the entire gay community by hiding her sexuality. It wasn't so surprising, then, that Naomi hadn't been all that heartbroken when she'd gone home from that party with another girl. She'd been planning to break up with her, anyway.

There were two lessons she'd learned from that experience: one, to keep her family issues a little closer to her heart - Nick had been the only person she'd told about her family issues since - and two, that not everyone had that inborn fear of their fathers that she did. Her dad, while he certainly had his good points, was also entirely certain he knew what "real" men and women were supposed to be. He had a force of personality that Naomi (and every other child who had encountered him when young) learned to fear - not because he hit them or anything else of the sort, but simply because he had the sort of intimidating persona where he could make a child cry simply by looking at them. Living with a father like that her whole childhood had left her simply unable to consider the idea of disappointing him. Sure, she was an adult, and sure she could make her own decisions, but standing in front of her dad whenever he thought she'd done something wrong, she was six all over again and it took an embarrassing amount of willpower to keep herself from bursting into tears whenever it happened.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Naomi was faintly terrified of the idea of going home for Christmas without a boyfriend again. She'd been gone from her parents house for nearly 6 years, and never once had she brought someone home to meet her family as a potential marrying prospect. It was starting to make her mother upset, and her father was growing suspicious that the made-up boyfriends she'd been talking about (and always conveniently broke up with just before she made plans to come home for any holiday) were just that - made up.

And that was how she'd come up with that ridiculous plan to present Nick as her fiance. It'd get her parents off her back for at least a year, and then, once they started asking why they weren't married yet, Naomi was sure she might be able to squeeze out another year of at least limited questions and suspicion out of various excuses about why the wedding had to be delayed. And, when they inevitably "broke up" she'd be able to get another year of peace out of the explanation that she was simply too heartbroken over him to date anyone else.

She had to admit, though, she'd been surprised that Nick had said yes. It certainly wasn't going to help with the fact that some of his girlfriends tended to get jealous of the close friendship they shared once Naomi started calling him her fiance.

He sent her a text when he pulled into her driveway, and she came out wearing a heavy coat and pulling her suitcase along behind her. Her hair - which had been full of electric blue streaks the last time he'd seen her - was pure blonde, no odd colours at all, which was probably something he hadn't seen on her in years, if ever. She put the suitcase in his trunk and climbed into the passenger's seat, smiling tiredly at him. "Thank you so much for doing this, Nick. I know it's kind of weird but... here's hoping my mom will stop harassing me about my biological clock now, hm?" She paused, tilting her head. "You're sure you're okay with this? I mean, you're not going to be that uncomfortable? My family isn't exactly the sort to encourage PDA or anything, but they're probably going to expect us to hold hands, maybe give kisses on the cheek..." She trailed off, feeling weird about the whole situation. It wasn't every day she was expected to display romantic affection towards a gender she didn't generally find herself attracted to, after all.

 

[Maka]

Naomi slid into the passenger seat, moving the way only she moved: quick, fluid and lithe, her small and supple body seeming to flow through the air like liquid. At times, Nick could have sworn that she left behind a trail of bright golden afterimages in the air behind her, like something from a comic book. Just seeing her could cheer him up.

And he was already inhaling her fresh, clean scent. She always smelled that good, that pure, like a clear frosty morning by a lake in a forest of pines, even when she was filthy with motor oil and engine grease. Just another Naomi mystery.

But her pixie-cut hair was different. Instead of the usual brilliant explosion of some bright colour in among the locks of gold, it was pure blonde now. Coupled with her ivory complexion and dangerously cute features, the effect, if one didn't know Naomi, was of demure innocence. Nick wondered how well her family knew her.

She tilted her head to look at him (Nick hoped Naomi would never find out how utterly captivating he found that single, slight mannerism of hers).

"You're sure you're okay with this? I mean, you're not going to be that uncomfortable? My family isn't exactly the sort to encourage PDA or anything, but they're probably going to expect us to hold hands, maybe give kisses on the cheek..."

"I think," Nick said gravely, "That I can handle a little light handholding or cheek-kissing."

He started the car and pulled out.

"By the way," he added. "Check the dashboard. I brought something."

Sitting on the dashboard was a small red box, lined on the inside with velvet. It proved to contain an engagement ring, a pale gold band that was elegant in its understated simplicity. It gleamed in the snowy light of the afternoon, its sparkle a match for Naomi's halo of golden hair.

"Somehow, I got the impression that your family are traditionalists," Nick explained, "So I thought they might wonder if you weren't wearing one. It belonged to my mother. She wanted me to give it to the girl I... y'know... but I'm sure she wouldn't mind you borrowing it."

 

[slut_in_white]

Naomi couldn't help the grin that graced her lips at the news that Nick had brought something for her. She thought maybe he'd wanted to give her an early Christmas present. Maybe because it was something inappropriate to open in front of her parents. God knew he'd given her a few such things previously. She giggled, trying to imagine what it might be. It never occurred to her that it might be something more serious.

Instead, she glanced over the dashboard and her gaze landed on the red velvet box, and, for a moment, her heart felt like it had stopped beating. She reached for it, hesitant, and lifted it carefully into her hands with a reverence and caution that she usually reserved for only the most infinitely precious of things. "Oh..." She opened it slowly, revealing a beautiful gold band, along with the news that it had belonged to her mother.

She knew this wasn't real. That they weren't getting married. But regardless, he was offering her his mother's wedding ring, even if it was just temporarily, and that meant something. It struck a chord in her, and she bit her lip, a wave of unexpected emotion washing through her. "Nick..." she whispered, reaching over to clutch at his free hand for a moment. "Thank you. This is..." She stopped, unable to quite find the right word, and slipped it onto her finger.

She felt herself getting teary-eyed, and began to laugh. "This isn't even a real proposal. We're not getting married, and here I am getting all emotional like some little girl..." She scrubbed at her eyes at the back of her head. "I just... It's your mom's ring." He didn't talk about his mom very much. Naomi got the impression that the loss of his mother was still very painful for him. "Even if this isn't a real proposal, it means a lot that you'd entrust me with this." She leaned over to touch his cheek, the cool metal grazing his cheekbone as she did. "So thank you."

 

[Maka]

It was obvious from Naomi's expression that the gesture had deeply moved her. Nick was surprised by how much it meant to her, and in turn realised that he was letting out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. It had meant a lot to him, too, more than he'd thought. Lending her the ring might not be a romantic gesture, but it was one signifying deep trust and friendship -as for that matter, had been her request.

She laid a hand on his cheek, the ring resting on his high cheekbone. Her fingertips were calloused from engine work, but there was an obvious delicacy and sensitivity to those slim digits. He glanced at her, and saw her smiling through the tears that glittered in the corners of her eyes. Somehow, in his mind it merged with the bright, clear winter sunlight glittering against the lazily falling flakes of snow on the road outside.

Nick found himself wishing he could store that glance in his memory forever.


The drive was pleasant, the two of them chatting or sitting in companionable silence as the car sped down frost-covered highways. Nick, a good driver, only needed to engage his brain and seek directions from Naomi once they left the highway and entered the bewildering network of country roads in her district. The snow had erased all landmarks, but Naomi's instincts were unfaltering all the same. At last, Nick found himself driving uphill on an unmarked road towards an old and rambling two-storey farmhouse, its gabled roof sheathed in snow and warm yellow light spilling from its windos. It was surrounded by a warren of barns, sheds and outhouses.

It was still strange, despite everything, to imagine Naomi growing up here. Although judging by the skeletal ruins of an old tractor in the yard, it wasn't hard to see where she got her aptitude from all things mechanical.

Nick parked the car in one of the few remaining spaces outside the front porch. It was clear that most of Naomi's large family had already gathered at the family home -jeeps, SUVs and station wagons abounded. He left the engine idling while he turned to Naomi.

He'd been going to jokingly suggest that they still had a chance to turn back, but something unfamiliar in her expression stopped him. He switched the engine off.

People were spilling out of the farmhouse to welcome the new arrivals. Nick took one quiet breath, then got out of the car to meet his in-laws for the week.

 

[slut_in_white]

Naomi took a deep, calming breath as they pulled up to her parents' house. She always felt small in the face of the sprawling farm house, always felt like a little girl coming home to a place she didn't quite belong, no matter how old she got.

She turned to offer a smile to Nick, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, and she looked like she was unexpectedly close to panicking and bolting. It was probably a good thing he didn't joke about taking the chance to turn around - she might actually have tried to take him up on the offer.

By the time she'd gotten out of the car, though, she'd swallowed her fear, and she really did feel warm about seeing all of her siblings, parents, nieces and nephews again. The last time she'd seen all of them had actually been last Christmas.

"MOE-MI!" came a child's cry, and a moment later, Naomi had a small blonde girl collide with her legs, and she had to catch herself on the car to keep from tumbling over backwards from the force of it. Laughing, she bent down to hug the little girl as best she could when the child was still latched onto her leg, and then peeled the girl off, grinning.

"Hey Lizzy!"

Lizzy seemed like she was going to answer, but her eyes went suddenly wide and she scrambled to put Naomi between herself and Nick as he came around the car to see what all the fuss was about.

Naomi looked up at whatever had scared Lizzy so, and laughed when she saw Nick, looking slightly bewildered. "Oh, Lizzy, it's okay! This is my f-fiance, Nick!" She flushed, having already almost slipped in the ploy - she'd nearly called Nick her friend instead of her fiance. She'd need to keep herself more aware of that, or their little deception would be over before it started.

Lizzy seemed a little hesitant to actually greet Nick, and despite Naomi's prodding, she ended up fleeing back to her mother without ever actually looking him in the eye. Naomi was about to apologize, to explain that Lizzy was shy, as kids tended to be around strangers (particularly big, faintly intimidating-looking men like Nick), but her mother came out and began to all Naomi and Nick inside.

The inside of the house was as rustic as the outside, and very well-kept. The floors were shining, well-maintained hardwood throughout every room, and Naomi's father, Peter, proudly informed Nick that he'd put it all in himself when Naomi was still little, that it had all come from the old barn before they put up the new one with aluminum siding, and that the barn had been built by hand by his grandfather before that.

There was a whirlwind of introductions, along with several jokes that Nick would be given a test of the names after, and Naomi's mother, Teresa, ushered Naomi and Nick upstairs. "Come, come, we'll get the two of you a place to put away your luggage!"

She led the 'couple' to one of the many rooms upstairs, with an old but serviceable queen bed in the center. She grinned sheepishly at the two of them. "I know it's not strictly appropriate, but we... well, we weren't expecting you to bring anyone home for Christmas this year again, sweetheart," she offered Naomi an apologetic look, "and we only just realized we don't have enough beds for the both of you. Normally, we wouldn't put an unmarried couple in a room together like this, but, well, since you're going to be married soon anyway..."

Naomi's eyes went wide, and she turned to Nick, uncertain of what to do. "I, uh, are you okay with this?"

Teresa sighed. "Oh my dear, we know you're a little more... liberal than we are. We know you two must have slept together by now. It's alright." And with that, she scurried back downstairs, leaving them alone to sort themselves out.

Naomi shut the door, pressing her hand to her forehead. "Oh my god, it would figure that the one time any of my siblings wouldn't want my parents to let me sleep with my fiance, it would be me. Now. I'm really sorry, Nick. This is a lot more than I promised it would be."

 

[Maka]

Christmas had been a lonely time of year for Nick for a long time. Ever since his mother's death, when he was eleven, his father had slipped deeper and deeper into a black, alchohol-hazed despair -and he was at his worst around the holidays. The crowded warmth and light of the Highford Christmas gathering took him aback, although Naomi's family interpreted with amusement at his bafflement at the sheer numbers of relatives he was meeting and names he was learning.

"Naomi's been keeping you very secret," said Teresa, Naomi's mother -a kindly, middle-aged woman.

"I can see why," chipped in Naomi's younger sister Beth with a knowing smirk as she admired Nick's tightly muscular physique.

"Beth!" said Teresa, aghast.


Inside, the rooms were fragrant with the smells of nutmeg, ginger and mulled wine. People seemed to be everywhere, all of them intensely curious about the mysterious fiance that tomboy Naomi had finally brought home. Even Lizzie summoned up the courage to peek out at him from behind her mother one or two times while another young nephew, Joshua, approached him to ask a stream of highly technical questions about Nick's car (Nick hazarded a guess that Joshua was particularly close to his aunt Naomi's heart).

He was standing in the polished hardwood interior of the living room, by an exceptionally large Christmas tree hung all over with tinsel and decorations, some of them clearly handmade by generations of Highford children. Following an irresistible impulse, Nick looked for and quickly located something he knew had to be there: a little car, painstakingly molded from papier mache and proudly hung on one of the lower branches. He didn't need outside guidance to recognise the work of a young but already car-mad Naomi.

Nick couldn't help the fond smile that came to his lips. He was still looking at it as a tall, imposing man with greying brown hair entered the room. The room went quiet. Looking at Naomi, standing next to him, Nick saw that she was biting her lower lip. She looked very young, and much more vulnerable than she ever had in the city.

He knew who this had to be.

"Nick? Peter."

They shook hands, Nick returning the firm pressure of the older man's grip. Peter was outwardly as hospitable and friendly as the rest of the Highfords, but Nick could tell he was being assessed and weighed by frank blue eyes as Peter talked about the farmhouse, about the family Christmas traditions. He was deciding whether this interloper was worthy of his daughter.

Before, Naomi had slightly implied that her father would be so relieved to discover that his worries were apparently groundless, he'd welcome any male suitor with open arms. That was far from the case. From just a few moments of acquaintance, Nick strongly suspected that Peter had a special bond with his headstrong, stubborn daughter, as fractious as it might be at times.

"We should talk tomorrow. We'll go for a walk across the fields, have a chat."

Nick understood what was meant by this invitation, and knew to brace himself for an interrogation tomorrow. He felt a piercing regret -a regret that had been building ever since he'd entered the farmhouse. He didn't like deceiving these people, or knowing that he was entering their home under false pretenses, that this time next year they'd be cursing him for breaking Naomi's heart. He wished he could be here simply as Naomi's friend or even...

He stopped that dangerous thought before it had time to form.

All the same, he had a hunch that Peter's first impression of him had been favourable. But not, oddly enough, for the reasons that Naomi had thought it would -or not mainly. It wasn't Nick's height or his outdoors credentials or his air of confident, thoughtful self-sufficiency that had appealed to Peter.

Nick rather thought it was because Peter had correctly interpreted his glance at Naomi's Christmas tree decoration and subsequent smile. He'd known right away which one was Naomi's -and somehow that had done more to reassure Peter about him than anything else.


***


Now he stood, looking at the single queen-sized bed that had been laid for the pair of them. Naomi looked stricken. Panic was written all over her delicate, beautiful features.

Nick felt a certain panic too, although his face retained its usual calm. It was not that the prospect of sharing a bed with Naomi was unpleasant. Far from it. The thing was that he had always been attracted to her on a deeply primal level, sometimes even dreaming of her firm, slender little body, of the sweet, delicate curves hidden under her clothes, of the way her face might look, lighting up at the moment of an orgasm.

A week spent sharing a bed with her, of turning his back as she undressed and slipped into bed, of breathing in her wildflower scent, of feeling the warmth of her slim body so close by and listening to the sound of her quiet breaths slowly becoming deeper and more regular as sleep took her, of the occasional accidental brush of firm flesh against flesh... it was going to be an exquisitely sweet torment and a sovereign test of even Nick's iron self-control.

He considered alternatives for a moment. He even assessed the possibilities the floor held -could he build himself a nest of blankets there? But no -there weren't spare bedclothes and anyway, there was far too much risk of the ruse being discovered. It was unavoidable.

He looked back at Naomi, his instinct now to reassure her.

"Don't worry about it," he said. He cracked a rare grin, tried for a joke.

"Maybe this means that this time next year they won't object to you sharing a bed with a girl."

There was a pause, but before Naomi could say anything, Beth poked her blonde head around the door with a younger sibling's nonchalant disregard for the idea of knocking. Nick froze, but Beth evidently hadn't overheard his last comment.

"Rats. I was hoping to catch Nick changing," she said. "Mom says we're having dinner in five."

Nick thought he had Beth's measure. She was just entering college, and clearly feeling a certain sense of competition with city-girl Naomi. That spirit of competition manifested by exaggeratedly girly mannerisms, long blonde hair, pink dresses and boy craziness in contrast to Naomi's tomboy style. And also, Nick thought with a stoic inward sigh, unsubtle and aggressive flirtation with her fiance.

"Really, don't worry," Nick said quietly, after the door closed behind Beth. "I'm not going to let you down."

 

[slut_in_white]

Naomi relaxed a little as Nick grinned at her, assuring her that it was fine. It was fine, wasn't it? They were both adults. They could sleep in the same bed without it getting weird.

But if that was true, why was she feeling this unexpected, fluttering sensation in her stomach at the thought?

He cracked a joke about how her parents might be okay with her sharing her bed with a girl, and nearly laughed, except that the sound of the door opening behind her choked down her giggle with panic and she whirled around to see her younger sister poking her head in. Apparently she hadn't heard, because Beth wasn't particularly good at controlling her emotions, and she wouldn't have worn that stupid grin if she had just heard Naomi's supposed-fiance joking about Naomi sleeping with women.

"Beth!" she shouted, sounding cross. "Do you not know the meaning of privacy? Get out!" With the door closed, she made sure to lock it this time, and sighed heavily, turning to smirk at Nick. "That was close. Maybe no more lesbian jokes for the week, just in case?"

She raked her fingers through her hair and took a seat on the end of the bed next to him. "I'm sorry about her, by the way. She's always been jealous whenever I had something she couldn't have." She laughed. "You know, the kind of sibling who'd get upset because you got 3 scoops of ice cream and she only got two, even if the resulting servings were exactly the same size."

She started putting her clothes away, humming a Christmas carol as she went. She was half-finished when she stopped and looked up at Nick again. "So, I noticed my dad invited you out for a walk tomorrow... I mean, I'm sure you know what that's about. You okay with it?" She looked nervous again. She disliked the idea of her father "testing" her potential suitors to begin with, but it was something she'd much more happily deal with if Nick were really her fiance. They'd only been here a little while, and already, this whole excursion was proving to be more demanding for him than she'd wanted it to be. "I feel kind of shitty for asking so much of you. Especially when I promised it'd be easy. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

---------

A few minutes later, Naomi and Nick came back downstairs to join everyone else for dinner. It was a massive affair, as such meals always tended to be in the Highford household. Lots of conversation, laughter, and the food smelled heavenly. Teresa was an incredible cook. Tonight? It was to be lasagna. Why her mother had enough glass casserole dishes to make lasagna for this many people, Naomi would never know, much the same way she'd never quite been able to figure out how everyone always managed to fit into the dining room. There were two huge, long tables, and every year, it looked like they'd squeezed the last of the space out of the room. And then, the next year, some new face would arrive - a new spouse, or a new baby - and somehow, magically, a little more space would appear to accommodate.

Naomi was beginning to think her mother's dining room was secretly a TARDIS. Bigger on the inside.

They piled into the room with everyone else, plates piled high with steaming servings of pasta and crisp salad on the side. The moment they sat down, however, the conversation seemed to die down, and everyone turned to face them with eager expressions. Naomi couldn't help the deer-in-headlights expression that appeared on her face in response.

"So?" Teresa prodded, grinning. "Tell us how you two met!"

 

[Maka]

They hadn't thought of a story.

Nick was placing salad on his plate, and he used the action as an excuse to avoid answering Teresa's question for a moment, before quickly glancing at Naomi. She was flushing and wide-eyed, which somehow made her look even more poignantly, seraphically attractive.

"Naomi's blushing!" said Eli, an older brother. He nudged his wife. "I bet it's a really scandalous story."

Nick found his voice.

"It's nothing of the sort," he said lightly. He'd read somewhere that the best lies contained as much truth as possible. "In fact, we met at a party."

He'd had a faint hope that that might be enough, but the curiosity of the Highfords had only been whetted. They were leaning forward -some of them listening, others just enjoying the sight of Naomi blushing and squirming.

"Did you know right away she was the one?"

The question came from Susannah, Naomi's dreamy, sensitive high-school age sister. To his surprise, Nick found his reply coming automatically to his lips, without any hesitation.

"Yes. I knew there and then, the first time I laid eyes on her."

Susannah gave a contented sigh of satisfaction at this response. Beth made a face, and returned to trying to get his attention. Peter sat very still, his face suddenly and curiously impassive. Nick didn't look at Naomi.

She must think I'm laughing at her family. Why couldn't I have said something a little less...

Eli was leaning forward now, a good-humoured glint in his eyes.

"Naomi's been awfully quiet about all of this. Didn't you feel the same way, sis? Did Nick have to work to win your heart?"

 

[slut_in_white]

Yes. I knew there and then, the first time I laid eyes on her.

There was something unexpectedly sincere about the way he said it that made Naomi soften and smile slightly. There was something real in the feeling he was describing - he'd really felt something the moment he laid eyes on her at that party. Of course, she imagined it was more that he recognized a kindred soul, and that they'd be best friends. The thought that Nick might ever have felt something more for her was simply beyond her capacity. At the moment.

Naomi's been awfully quiet about all of this. Didn't you feel the same way, sis? Did Nick have to work to win your heart?

And then her blush returned in full force. She skewered Eli with a glower, but a smile was tugging at her lips, and she sighed dramatically. "Fiiiine. It wasn't... I mean, not the first moment, but um... it didn't take that long."

Ah, what the hell. They were going with a mostly-honest story anyway. "I was kind of already dating someone at the time. Me and my, uh, boyfriend at the time arrived together. The people at the party were mostly his friends..." She glanced up at Nick. "You know, I never actually asked you why you were there. You're clearly not the type to have had many friends there." She shrugged. That was a story for later. "Anyway. This thing, with the guy I came with, it wasn't that serious. He was kind of..." She paused, blushing at the look her mother was giving her. "Uh. Suffice to say that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." That earned a laugh from several of her siblings. "Anyway, Nick and I were bored out of our minds, and so we ended up climbing onto the roof of the house and just... talking. For hours. Until dawn."

Susannah sighed loudly, earning a few chuckles. She blushed. "Um, what about that other boyfriend?"

Naomi shrugged. "Oh. He went home with another girl."

Several eyes went wide, and there were several comments that were variations of "How dare he!" and "What kind of man does that?!"

Naomi waved it off, rolling her eyes. "Oh, whatever. We were already rocky at that point anyway, and we'd only been going out for like... a couple months. I was ready to break up with he-im." She paused, choking, and flushed. That was close. "When I called Nick to tell him what happened, he basically told me he thought it was the other guy's loss, and asked me out on the spot."

 

[Maka]

"Anyway, Nick and I were bored out of our minds, and so we ended up climbing onto the roof of the house and just... talking. For hours. Until dawn."

Despite its perfect truth, this description received some skeptical raised eyebrows and sly glances from certain members of the family. Boyfriend or no boyfriend, had Nick and Naomi really just spent an entire evening just talking -not even sharing a chaste, discreet kiss?

But it was true. Nick could still remember that sultry summer night, the warmth of Naomi's toned, slender body resting companionably against his, the scent of her hair on the breeze.

Naomi went on, describing (in the necessary code), her subsequent break-up with her girlfriend. She wasn't affecting her nonchalance -Nick could remember the audible indifference with which she'd told him the news, a few days later.

"When I called Nick to tell him what happened, he basically told me he thought it was the other guy's loss, and asked me out on the spot."

The first part was true too, although of course Nick hadn't asked Naomi out. There were broad grins at the happy ending to Naomi's story, and Nick received a share of approving nods. To Nick's profound relief, it looked like the conversation was ready to move on.

But Susannah's romantic nature had yet to be fully appeased. She leaned forward, eyes aglow, so excited that her words were tripping over one another:

"When did he propose? Did you know he was going to? Did he do anything special? Did he go down on one knee? Did you say yes right away?"

Garage. Chinese take-away. Bottled beer, was all Nick could think as he waited for Naomi's reply.

 

[slut_in_white]

Naomi blinked at Susannah, a blush rising on her cheeks, which the rest of the family appeared to take happily as a sign that there was something embarrassing or intimate about the story, rather than the actual fact that she simply felt weird making up a story about how Nick proposed to her. How would she know how he'd propose?

Her gaze flickered over to him. He was looking at her, his gaze curious, a slight smile tugging at his lips. She smiled back, and Susannah sighed loudly again, making Naomi want to throw a piece of bread at her for being so obvious.

They knew each other well. She knew Nick wasn't generally the sort of guy who would do a traditional proposal - there would be no dressing up, no fancy dinner, no proposal on Valentine's Day or an anniversary, or anything so normal or expected. He was an unusual guy. She was an unusual girl.

And suddenly, thinking about how they met, she knew exactly what kind of story she'd tell about how he proposed. It fit them both perfectly.

"I didn't know he was going to propose, no. He just showed up at my door one night with take-out from our favourite restaurant, and told me he was taking me somewhere surprising. I remember... it was pretty late, and he was lucky I hadn't already eaten dinner, but off we went. When we got into the car, he made me wear a blindfold so I wouldn't know where I was going." She grinned. "When we got there? It was this big beach, and he brought a blanket and we sat outside until the wee hours of the morning again, eating and just talking, like we had the first night we met. And at the end, he proposed."

 

[Maka]

To the Highfords' delight, Naomi blushed again at Susannah's question, her elfin face crimson and her neat, straight white teeth nipping coyly at her lower lip. But all the same, there was a sparkle in her large blue eyes and when Nick smiled at her, she smiled back -two people sharing an intimate secret all their own. Susannah looked over the moon at this exchange and settled down, starry-eyed, to hear more about what was clearly becoming her favorite love story. Nick wondered with amusement just how many times Naomi was going to have to retell it to her over the course of the week.

That thought made him feel guilty again. Of course none of it was true and what was worse, young Susannah was going to feel disillusioned and heartbroken next year, after Naomi announced the end of the engagement. Ridiculously, part of him wondered if he couldn't perhaps ask Naomi to not paint him in too harsh a light when the time came, to assure Susannah and everyone else that it was a mutually agreed, bittersweet parting.

Even more ludicrously, part of him wondered if they couldn't maintain the ruse again next year.

Was he already that addicted to the novel sensation of spending Christmas in a large, loving family home?

Or was he, despite his best efforts, simply getting dangerously into the pretense of being engaged to Naomi?

Naomi began to tell the story and Nick listened with avid interest that he kept from his face, trying to look instead like a protagonist in the events described, not a first-time listener.

And weirdly, he found he could picture it all. The starlit beach, the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, Naomi's lovely face as they talked, the little gestures she made as she became excited, the smile that came and went as bright and quick as a sunbeam... and how even as he reached for the ring, her eyes suddenly went wide, as she realised what this was just moments before he asked.

And then her reply, and their deep, intoxicatingly passionate kiss afterwards, lying entwined on the blanket...

Nick brought himself back to reality. Perhap Naomi was describing something real to her as well: but the person with the ring would be female in her mind. He had to remind himself: none of this was real.

Although it was clearly all too real to Susannah.

"I want to be your bridesmaid," she declared. "Please say I can be a bridesmaid!"

 

[slut_in_white]

Naomi laughed at Susannah's question, trying to keep the uncomfortable edge out of her voice that would give away that something was wrong, and she nodded. "Well, I mean, we haven't done anything to plan the wedding yet. We haven't even picked a date. But, um, you can be a bridesmaid, sure." Naomi felt bad for lying to her sister like that, for promising her things she had no intention of actually following through on. But what else could she say? Saying no would be horrible, and she couldn't tell them the truth.

There was a little voice in her mind, demanding to know if this was really better than the disappointed looks her mother and father gave her every time she came home single yet again. Were these lies really preferable to that? Really?

The rest of dinner, however, was somewhat less awkward, with the conversation turning back to normal things so that Naomi and Nick were no longer on the spot. A few times, various family members asked them about details about the wedding, but Naomi was very firm in her response - there were no plans quite yet, so they couldn't rightly answer a question they didn't actually know the answer to. And though they seemed disappointed at that news, eventually, they stopped asking, and Naomi could pretend that she was just here with her friend for Christmas.

Except... there was a little twinge in her heart at the idea of Nick being here as her friend. She passed it off as a reaction to the disappointment she knew her family would feel if they discovered the ruse.

 

[Maka]

Nick automatically got to his feet to help clean up the dishes at the end of the meal, only to be chased almost indignantly by Teresa. Naomi's relatives looked on with amusement.


The crowd now dispersed somewhat, as younger nieces and nephews were put to bed, but there was still a sizeable throng gathered in the living room, where the mulled wine that had been steaming on the stove all night was dispensed among the adults, with hot chocolate and marshmallows for such children as had managed to evade bedtime for the time being. The sight of the snow falling outside the room's long windows made the room feel even cosier, as did the existence of a crackling log fire, the flames casting flickering shadows across the room.

Nick found himself standing by the fire, with Naomi at his side and Eli next to him. He was letting the warmth of the evening simply wash over him, and so he missed the mischevious smile that suddenly crossed Eli's face, moments before he affected to hear something from inside the fireplace's big brass hood.

"Nick! Naomi! What's that?"

Eli affected to look up inside the hood.

"I think there's a bird trapped in there or something -take a look!"

Eli stepped aside. There was just enough room for Naomi and Nick to stand side by side under the hood, looking innocently upwards, their hips pressed against one another.

And, of course, a sprig of mistletoe had been hung up there under the hood above the fireplace -and Eli had maneuvred the two of them directly under it. He was looking at them now with a broad, expectant grin, as was most of the rest of the room. There was no way out.

Nick bent down. He planned a decorous, chaste peck on the lips, but as he began the kiss he found that somehow found his body had other ideas. He found himself pressing Naomi's slender, petite body against him, his hands on her slim hips lifting her up on tiptoes to receive a passionate, masterful kiss. The taste of her soft, sweet warm lips against his was beyond imagining.

He didn't break the kiss until she was panting for breath. There was a round of applause from their observers.

 

[slut_in_white]

Naomi had gotten her hands on some of her mother's incredible home-made hot chocolate and wandered over to the fireplace with Nick when Eli had exclaimed that he heard a bird in the chimney.

Naomi, being apparently very gullible, actually believed him and looked (though it was mostly because Eli was very often very serious, so she hadn't expected a joke like this from him), which was how she now found herself staring up at Nick while the entire room was waiting for them to kiss.

Her heart was fluttering in her chest, and she figured, at first, that it was because she was embarrassed and because she wasn't interested in kissing a man. Though, she had to admit, she didn't mind the thought of kissing Nick so much, presumably because he was her best friend. She was sure it helped that he was objectively attractive, too. Normally, there was something about a man's appearance... not that she found them ugly, exactly, just that there was always something that prevented her from finding them personally attractive. Sometimes, the heavy brow and jaw made them look too much like cavemen. Sometimes, the nose did it instead. Sometimes it was something about their eyes. That, and she tended not to like the way men smelled - not cologne, she loved cologne, but their natural scent just turned her off. Which, now that she thought about it, wasn't true of Nick, which struck her as strange. There was just something about him - his charming smile, the intelligence that lit his eyes, maybe. But something about him made her understand how other women might actually find men attractive. Or maybe it was just Nick.

Regardless, her train of thought was interrupted when Nick leaned down to kiss her. She'd expected a quick, chaste peck, and that's what it was at first. But after a moment, his arms slipped around her, pulling her close, and he deepened the kiss into something more passionate, more desirous. And more, Naomi found she liked it. A lot. His lips were warm and soft, but somehow unyielding compared to a more feminine mouth. Her arms came up to slide around his neck, pulling herself up to her tiptoes at the same time as his hands lifted her slightly, and she felt suddenly like she was enveloped in warmth and strength.

Naomi had usually be the "guy" in her relationships, if such a thing existed. She had the masculine interests, she tended to be "the big spoon" and generally took on those traditionally masculine roles. She was the one who did the holding, rather than being held, most of the time. And the switch was... nice. More than she expected it to be. Maybe it was because masculinity had a certain power in society, and Naomi had never felt comfortable enough to give it up. She'd grown up in a world where she had to hide herself and her desires, and it had given her a certain discomfort with the thought of being vulnerable. Thus, in her previous relationships, she'd always been the one who cared for the vulnerable parts of her partner, rather than the other way around. Nick, she realized, was the only person she'd ever felt comfortable enough around to be vulnerable, to admit that maybe, sometimes, she enjoyed being held instead of the other way around.

She was breathless and blushing when he broke the kiss finally, her eyes wide with surprise. Her family took it as surprise that they'd kiss so deeply in public, thankfully, when in reality, it was simply surprise that she'd liked it so much. What did this mean, exactly? How was this possible? She'd never been into men. Ever. When she was 10, her first crush had been on another girl in her class. This wasn't supposed to be possible!

Her family applauded, a few choruses of "Aww" running through the room, and they all returned to their conversations. Eli, still grinning wickedly, wandered off to join another conversation and leave the two lovers alone. And Naomi, then, simply stood staring into the fire, silently enduring a crisis of identity.

 

[Maka]

Nick had felt it all. At first, Naomi's body had stiffened against him -not so much in resistance as in hesitation. And all at once she had seemed to melt into his kiss, molding her entire body against his, throwing her arms around his neck to give him better access... offering herself to him wholeheartedly and passionately, a girl swept up by desire.

When the kiss ended she was bright-eyed, breathless and blushing, her blue eyes wide. Nick wanted to offer an apology for taking their charade far too far, but he could not, in front of her family. What's more, their fiery kiss had ignited Nick's appetite, so carefully suppressed throughout his friendship with Naomi. He was powerfully aroused. He wanted her. And there was no recourse.

He touched her hand, a quiet and subtle gesture.


Naomi's parents soon afterwards made their excuses and left for bed, as did most others. Soon there were just a handful left, sitting in corners in the old, dimly lit room or sprawled out by the dimly lit fire.

Naomi and Nick were sitting on the large couch in front of the Christmas tree. The indefatigable Beth, immune to hints, had attached herself to Nick like a limpet and was even now sitting on the opposite side from him, using any excuse to lean in, brushing her long blonde hair against his shoulder or pressing his hard biceps with muffled exclamations of admiration.

Under the watchful eye of her father, Beth had kept her white cotton blouse fully buttoned up but now he'd retired, she had artfully undone the top three buttons, and used various gestures to continually try and draw Nick's attention to the exposed cleavage.

Deflected by Nick's apparent indifference, she was now resorting to more extreme measures -referring to one of the wrapped presents heaped up under the Christmas tree, she'd got down on all fours to retrieve it. In the process, she adopted a posture that thrust her ass provocatively up into the air and 'accidentally' flipped her pretty pink skirt up, exposing her panty-clad ass for Nick's inspection. She glanced slyly backwards, but was again disappointed by Nick's lack of outward reaction.

But Beth had done more than she realised to get under Nick's skin. It was just that the silly girl looked so much like Naomi for a moment, kneeling in the firelight, and Nick couldn't help but imagine Naomi posing for him that way, playfully inciting his desire, wanting him to want her.

 

[slut_in_white]

Beth was driving Naomi crazy.

She tried to tell herself that she wasn't jealous, because that would be ridiculous, because she didn't like men. She tried to tell herself that it was because she could tell Nick wasn't interested, and she was getting incredibly irritating, getting in the way every time he tried to say something more than two words to Naomi. And that second part was true - regardless of her uncertain interest in her very male best friend, he was still, undoubtedly, her best friend and she didn't particularly take it well when her irritating jail-bait sister wouldn't leave him alone.

The moment she "accidentally" flashed her ass at Nick though, was the last straw. Naomi's teeth clenched. Even if she hadn't been overtly trying to seduce her sister's fiance, she was practically sexually harassing a man who had said not countless times already, and enough was enough.

Beth had turned to glance at Nick, pouting when she realized there had been no response. And the moment her gaze turned back to the tree, Naomi lifted her foot and used it to push against Beth's still-exposed little ass, making her yelp and fall forward into the pile of presence. She ended up sprawled over the top of them, and worse, the noise drew the attention of some of the other people in the room, who hadn't been paying attention to Beth's antics. To add insult to injury, when Beth tried to pull herself up out of the pile of presents, she realized her hair had gotten tangled on the tree, and had to sit still for several more seconds, her pert little ass still hanging out, while she pulled it free. It drew a few snickers and Beth jumped to her feet, humiliated, clearly put-out, finally, and went off into the kitchen with the excuse of wanting something to drink.

Naomi grinned, though she had to admit, she felt a little guilty. She hadn't meant to humiliate her that much. She turned to Nick, looking a big chagrined, and leaned closer to him, bringing her lips closer to his ear that she probably strictly had to. "Was that too mean of me?"

 

[Maka]

The expression on Naomi's gorgeous face was a highly enticing mixture of mild guilt and naughty satisfaction. It put Nick irresistibly in mind of how she might look in the bedroom after suggesting a particularly wanton sex act. She leaned in close to whisper to him:

"Was that too mean of me?"

"Just mean enough, I think," Nick whispered with a grin. He stretched, and addressed the room.

"I think we should probably turn in."

There was a little knowing laughter at that, and Nick realised too late the impression he'd unwittingly given, in making this announcement immediately after an exchange of whispers between the two of them. The Highfords undoubtedly believed that they were going upstairs to take advantage of the new, liberal policy of shared beds by banging each other's brains out.

Nick wished that wasn't such an incredibly appealing, impossible option.


The bed seemed to dominate their room. It had been awkward enough that they'd have to share it before the kiss. Now... should they discuss it? Was there anything to discuss? Nick sat down on the edge of the bed, suddenly tired.

"Why don't you change first?" he said, indicating their en suite bathroom.

 

[slut_in_white]

The kiss was a big, unspoken elephant in the room, but Naomi, for one, was glad that Nick hadn't brought it up. She had no idea what she was going to say to him, once they did inevitably talk about it, but she knew she needed a chance to sort out her own feelings before she could talk to anyone else about them.

She nodded as Nick motioned to the bathroom, and went into her stuff to get out the pajamas... that she didn't bring, because she hadn't imagined in her wildest dreams that her parents would ever put them into a room together before they were married. She groaned, grinding her palm against her forehead. "Shit. I don't have anything to wear to bed."

But she already felt bad enough about putting Nick through the crap of having to sleep next to a woman he wasn't dating. She sure as hell wasn't going to make it worse while sleeping naked. "Whatever, it's not a big deal. I'll just... uh..." She'd considered wearing a t-shirt and panties to bed, since that was both comfortable and covered her, mostly, but was having her legs completely exposed okay? She turned to look at him, her expression apologetic. "I'm really sorry. I don't really have anything properly, um, night-shirt sized. I can wear my jeans to sleep if you're uncomfortable," she promised. Jeans in bed weren't her idea of a good night's sleep, but she'd do it, if Nick didn't want to sleep with a lesbian who wasn't wearing pants.

She really, clearly had no idea that he was actually into her. Despite all that had happened, she still figured he was just selling their fake relationship really effectively.

 

[Maka]

"Of course you don't have to wear jeans. But if it bothers you, you could wear one of my T-shirts," Nick suggested. Given his height and Naomi's petite build, one of his T-shirts could serve as a serviceable nightie.

Of course, the idea of a bare-legged Naomi sharing the bed was far from unpalatable to him, but his concern was that she felt comfortable.

It only struck him after he'd made the offer that Naomi wearing his T-shirt would have a suggestiveness all of its own. Often after a night of passion, the girl who'd shared his bed would dress herself in one of his T-shirts for a lazy morning of drowsy, satiated contentment the next day, inevitably punctuated by renewed bouts of sex. Through a sort of Pavlovian condition, just the sight of a girl in an oversized T-shirt could arouse Nick -all the more when it was one of his own, through some atavistic, instinctive sense that she was now wearing his colours and so his on some primal level.

Of course, that would not apply to Naomi but Nick still found himself turned on imagining how she would look, imagining the traces of her fresh clean natural scent left behind...

 

[slut_in_white]

Naomi smiled at the offer, and she nodded quickly. Wearing one of his t-shirts was the probably the most logical solution, after all. She studiously ignored the way her mind ran off without her, considering the fact that she'd spend the whole night bathed in his warm, spicy scent.

"Sure! Thanks a lot, Nick!" She took the offered t-shirt and disappeared into the washroom to change.

When she came out a few minutes later, she was fresh-faced and changed, ready for bed. The t-shirt fell most of the way down her thighs, and the neck was so large that it kept sliding down her shoulder, revealing the expanse of pale skin over her neck and shoulder to him fore a moment before she tugged it back up.

"Thanks for lending me your shirt, Nick. It's a lot more comfortable," she said softly, smiling shyly at him. She climbed into bed and motioned towards the bathroom. "Alright, your turn!"

 

[Maka]

As Nick had anticipated, Naomi looked extraordinarily appealing wearing his T-shirt and ready for bed, her short blonde hair slicked back and her delicate face shining. The T-shirt, too big for her, kept sliding down her shoulder, offering a tantalizing glimpse of the pale, smooth skin of her naked body underneath, before she pulled it back up.

She climbed on to the bed, giving him a sweetly shy smile as she did so. Her expression somehow made Nick think of a bride on her wedding night, a little nervous but breathlessly, thrillingly eager. He had to pull himself up, aware that once again his thoughts were going in a dangerous direction.

Instead, he made his way to the bathroom himself, washed, and returned dressed in a T-shirt and boxers and slid it into bed beside Naomi.

He was intimately aware of her warmth, of her scent, of the slow, regular sound of her breathing.

"Good night, Naomi," he whispered as he turned off the bedside lamp.

 

[slut_in_white]

Naomi averted her gaze when Nick came out of the bathroom, blushing slightly. She'd seen him in a t-shirt and shorts before, but there was something about the intimacy of the situation that made it feel different somehow.

She settled down in bed with him, rolling onto her side, intensely aware of the heat of the man behind her. Her eyes were kept wide as she lay there, feeling the warmth rolling off of him. She found herself shuffling toward him until, half asleep, her back ended up pressed against his. There was something about the contact that she found very comforting, and she drifted off to sleep with a faint smile on her pretty face.

 

[Maka]

The clear, bright winter sunlight streamed through the gap between the curtains, slowly waking Nick from vivid, powerfully erotic dreams. Before recalling where he was, he realised that he was holding someone in his arms, a small and slender someone, with a body that felt firm and toned yet pleasantly soft and yielding at the same time, an exquisitely feminine body. And hair that smelled of wild pine and clean, fresh places. And Nick knew that she belonged in his arms. He hugged her closely, squeezing tightly, and drew a sleepy, cute little mewl of contentment from his bedmate.

The difference in heights between them meant that Naomi had been able to curl up quite happily against the hollow of his chest, seeming to find drowsy reassurance in the strength and hardness of his unyielding abs and washboard stomach. Her close-cropped blonde head was resting just below his chin. And, disastrously for Nick's peace of mind that morning, her pert, firm little ass was pushed up against him, just above the groin. And, Nick realised, he was sporting the most enormous erection, straining the fabric of his boxers and pushed between Naomi's legs so it was rubbing directly against the fabric of her panties, with the big tip emerging on the other side.

Nick froze. His body was reacting as it had to the kiss last night, but a thousand times more so. It was screaming at him to tear away the frustrating, skimpy material between him and the slick, feminine treasure between Naomi's legs and begin fucking like a wild beast, waking up the whole household with Naomi's moans and screams of ecstasy.

Nick had a hugely powerful libido even under normal circumstances -a week spent sharing a bed with this gorgeous, sexy, and by definitionable unavailable sprite was beginning to look like torture. At least she hadn't woke up. He didn't think she had. If she had, she was evidently pretending to still be asleep to make it less awkward for both of them.

One big hand held Naomi steady at the waist as Nick disentangled himself. He noticed in passing how very slim she was, his hand below her breasts engulfing her waist. The thought sent another jolt of lust through him, imagining fucking her from behind, holding on with hard, motionless hands.

As he withdrew, Naomi made a noise between a moan and a sigh, filled with loss and longing, and rolled over to face him. Her pretty, elfin face was relaxed and yet flushed, making her all the more irresistibly desirable. She was still wearing his T-shirt but it had bunched up around her breasts, exposing her bare, flat midriff. Her nipples were visible through the fabric of her T-shirt, hard and stiff. There was a dreamy smile on her face.

Nick allowed himself one thing, which was to brush a tousled lock of golden hair away from her face, before he got out of bed and into the shower. Without even thinking about it, he hit himself with a blast of cold water, despite the freezing temperatures outside.

With a girl as hot, as sexy and funny and adorable and... everything as Naomi sharing his bed every day for a week but off limits, he was going to need all the cold showers he could get.